Wood

Annual Incomes
As yet, there aren’t any sources of data to evidence and help understand the range of net annual incomes being generated at the different small-scale and community woodlands operating in the UK. There are however a handful of case studies: The LWA interviewed two forestry businesses: one forester managing a 20-acre mixed woodland, producing timber and firewood and providing contract work felling and extracting; and a coppicing social enterprise managing 20-acres, producing poles, firewood and charcoal, providing contract services managing woodlands, and providing educational and training. The examples include the business’ turnover and start-up costs:   https://landworkersalliance.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/New-entrants-costs-website.pdf Making Local Woods Work created dozens of case studies of community woodlands and some provide simplified    financial information, including: Abriachan Forest:   makinglandwork.wordpress.com/case-studies/case-study-1 Knoydart Forest:   makinglandwork.wordpress.com/case-studies/case-study-4

Start-Up Costs
Coppice products: The LWA provides a case study of a coppicing cooperative, including start-up costs:   https://landworkersalliance.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/New-entrants-costs-website.pdf Firewood: The LWA provides a case study of a small-scale forester selling, among other things, firewood. The case study includes start-up costs:    https://landworkersalliance.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/New-entrants-costs-website.pdf Logs:    The Farm Management Handbook (2019) has an extensive section on woodland which includes conifer and broad-leaf example start-up costs, grants, direct costs and income (Scotland only):     fas.scot/downloads/farm-management-handbook-2019-20 Sawn    timber: CALU provides an introduction to mobile milling, including equipment needed:     calu.bangor.ac.uk/Technical%20leaflets/050105SAWING%20TIMBER%20ON%20THE%20FARM%20rev2.pdf Coed Cymru provide a comprehensive guide to starting up in chainsaw timber milling, including equipment needed:    coed.cymru/images/user/Chainsaw%20milling%20English.pdf Wood Fuel Pellets: CALU produces a ‘technical note’ for Small Scale Wood Fuel Pellet Production, and although now a little dated, it is still useful. It sets out the equipment needed, along with a comparison of the economics of different rates of pellet mill throughput:    calu.bangor.ac.uk/Technical%20leaflets/CALUwoodpelletingv4.pdf. Prices for equipment can be checked with suppliers listed in Table 4. Wood products: Cobweb provides factsheets for wooden furniture and toy businesses. These contain costs for: CE self-certification; fire detection and prevention equipment; trade memberships; online marketplace trading; and market stalls:    businesswales.startquest.net

Running Costs
Figures for certain direct costs are given in the Farm Management Handbook (2019): extracting round wood to roadside; planting by machinery; pruning and shearing; and harvesting and marketing. However, this has been written for the Scottish forestry sector:    fas.scot/downloads/farm-management-handbook-2019-20 Business plans in the public domain provide projections of costs, including those not covered in publications, such as clearing Rhododendron: Glenan Community Woodland:        forestryandland.gov.scot/images/corporate/pdf/cats-asset-requests/glenan/CATS-Glenan-Feasibility-study-and-business-plan.pdf Kilfinan Community Woodland:        scotland.forestry.gov.uk/images/corporate/pdf/AcharossanKCFCBusinessPlan.pdf

Sales Prices
In a project Making Local Woods Work which looked at 10 community    woodland businesses, the majority of businesses selling milled wood     based their prices on local sawmill prices and then negotiated with     customers on a case by case basis. Many    small-scale sustainable woodland businesses sell products directly     to customers and provide their prices online, including: Ben Law:        ben-law.co.uk/product-category/building-materials-tools Devon Sawmills:        sawmillsdevon.co.uk/quality-timber-products Leeds Coppice Workers:        leedscoppiceworkers.co.uk/firewood-and-woodland-products Kilfinan Community Forest:    kilfinancommunityforest.co.uk/forest-products Grown in Britain provides up-to-date prices for eight of the more popular hardwood timber species: growninbritain.org/downloads Log prices for Scotland for ash, beech, oak, elm, larch, pine and spruce are listed in the Farm Management Handbook (2019):    fas.scot/downloads/farm-management-handbook-2019-20 The Forestry Commission keep up-to-date prices for coniferous standing    and softwood sawlog sales prices     forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/statistics/statistics-by-topic/timber-statistics/timber-price-indices

Example Business Plans
Glenan Community Wood (2018):     forestryandland.gov.scot/images/corporate/pdf/cats-asset-requests/glenan/CATS-Glenan-Feasibility-study-and-business-plan.pdf Kilfinan Community Woodland (2008):    scotland.forestry.gov.uk/images/corporate/pdf/AcharossanKCFCBusinessPlan.pdf